Sierra AirCard 880U USB Wireless Modem

[Aussie Jessie]

USB Sierra Wireless 880U Modem Connection to the Internet. Guidance Needed.
I have an Australian ISP “Telstra.Bigpond.com.au” and am trying to get access to Bigpond.com via a USB Sierra Wireless AirCard 880U HSDPA and it looks like the only Linux Distribution that I can find that comes close to recognising the USB Modem is Sabayon 4.1 Linux but I still can’t get the modem to connect even though I have had it working correctly with Windows XP Professional.
When I attempt to edit KPPD as /dev/ttyusb0 and do a modem query I get the details for sierra but for a MC8780 not a Sierra 880U and no other configuration seems to recognise the USB Modem at all.
Can You help by pointing me in the right direction?

What am I doing wrong or missing?
I am running an AMD 3000+(2162Mhz),1Gb Ram, ASUS Motherboard, 160Gb Hard Drive

Any clues would be appreciated. Thanks in anticipation.

[WarraWarra]

You might have better info if you check the gentoo.org wiki and or forums for the same card or possibly bigpond's website as they could have a generalized how-to for linux and then can be modified to work here.

Code: Select all

http://home.coming.dk/index.php/2009/01/15/sierra_mc8775_umts_hsdpa_modem_with_gent
http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/Telstra_and_Bigpond_Modems
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-690824-highlight-hsdpa.html
http://www.sierrawireless.com/faq/ShowFAQ.aspx?ID=601

Get Wolfden's firefox plug-in to use for searching in the forums / networking part for 3g or hsdpa or similar as a few folks has managed to get things to work.

You would likely only need to get ppp working and wvdial or umts or similar so can skip the rest of the stuff in the links above.

[Aussie Jessie]

The Information supplied in the Links is not very clear for a Linux beginner.I tried unplugging the Sierra from a Win Xp Computer and re inserting it in another computer with still not much improvement.I guess I need the basic spelt out for me. What script should be in the AT Commands,is it definitely /dev/ttyUSB0? Different postings have differing information regarding USB Modem setup. Currently I am running Linux like a car with 3 Good Wheels and 1 that is oval. Linux is useless without Internet Access and in this modern age of Wireless it has become a priority and is essential in my opinion in any Distro.

Any assistance would be greatfully received.Thank You

[Fitzcarraldo]

Here's another link which mentions "Sierra Wireless AirCard 881U (most likely 880U too)":

USB_ModeSwitch - Activating Switchable USB Devices on Linux